“I knew my numbers would hit,” exclaimed Darnell Tyler, referring to his $30,000 Keno Bonus prize. Saturday, the 64-year-old won $30,000 playing his unique Keno number combination — 71.72.73.75.76.77.79 and 80, He said he has been playing this combo along with another set of numbers for a while now. “I saw the numbers and said ‘Whoa, wait a minute, I got it. Then I saw the three times bonus.’”

Darnell quickly told his grandson to call his wife, Marion, with the wonderful news. Marion, who accompanied her husband to Lottery Headquarters to claim his prize, told Lottery officials that Darnell was supposed to be at a family reunion. “Our daughter told us, ‘there was a reason he didn’t go,” said Marion with a smile. Darnell, who suffers from diabetes, intends to upgrade his wheelchair with some of his winnings and pay off bills. The winning ticket was purchased at Best One Food, located at 6116 Marlboro Pike in District Heights.

Alphonso Griffin, Sr. was enjoying date night with his wife when she decided to try Keno for the very first time. To her delight, her inaugural Keno play yielded wins of $20, $15 and $1. Although Alphonso didn’t want to disrupt his spouse’s winning streak, he finally asked if he could have $8 of her winnings, so that he could play. Mr. Griffin was looking at the numbers on the screen for his first Keno game when the screen went out. “I think I might be a winner,” he said to himself. When the screen came back on he checked the numbers. To his surprise, he had won $30,000 on the first of four Keno Bonus games he purchased with the $8 his wife had given him. Alphonso said to his wife, “We’ve got to go.” He paid the tab and left.

As they drove home, Alphonso told his wife of 12 years that they were $30,000 richer. “Stop kidding,” she said. The 34-year-old winner told her he would show her when they got home that he had indeed won. When they arrived at home they went to mdlottery.com to verify that luck was on his side to the tune of $30,000. His wife’s response was simply, “Wow.”

The Code Enforcement Officer said he plans to use the winnings to pay bills. “This will put me on top,” he said with a smile. The winning ticket was purchased at Hazelwood Inn at 4937 Hazelwood Ave. in Baltimore.

Sandi and Larry Hessie played Keno Bonus which tripled
their $100,000 win to $300,000.

Brooklyn residents, Sandi and Larry Hessie, made a spur-of-the-moment decision last night to go out to dinner. At the restaurant, Sandra, with already-completed Keno tickets in hand, made another spur-of-the-moment decision to play one more game. Those two decisions, combined with a lot of luck, produced a $300,000 Keno win. According to the couple, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Sandi and Larry were about to dig into their dinner at Crabtowne USA when that extra Keno game started. Sandi picked her numbers after seeing the “hot numbers” screen, a collection of Keno numbers that had been drawn frequently yesterday. “My food had just arrived so I was only half paying attention,” said Sandi. “I stopped eating when I recognized more and more of the numbers. I never finished dinner.” Sure that she was imagining things, Sandi asked for a print-out of the game’s results. “We compared them and saw that all ten of our numbers had hit.” It wasn’t until a few minutes later that they remembered that she had played the Keno Bonus which tripled the $100,000 win.

“I really still can’t believe it,” Sandi told officials this morning. The shock was still apparent on her face, although it was slowly being replaced with a wide grin. Sandi, a manager at a distribution center and her husband, who is currently on medical disability, told of a recent conversation they’d had. “We were facing serious expenses, and with Larry out of work, we weren’t sure how we were going to make it. I told him that we’d better hit it big soon.”

The lucky couple plans to help their four children with student loans and assist other family members who are facing tough times. “First we’ll take care of the family,” said Sandi. “I have a birthday coming up soon; we’ll celebrate together then.”

Their Keno win occurred at Crabtowne USA, located at 1500 Crain Hwy. in Glen Burnie.

A still in shock Keno-to-Go winner came to Lottery headquarters today accompanied by her husband and good friend to claim her $75,000 win. The lucky winner, who plays Keno regularly along with occasional scratch-offs, said that she was both nervous and excited when realizing she had won such a large amount. “We thought that it was only a $25,000 win at first, and then we realized it had the 3X bonus, making it $75,000,” explained the woman’s friend. “All three of us checked the ticket over and over again last night,” the 48-year-old mother-of-two recounted.

Though she has no immediate plans for the winnings, the lucky woman may go back to school for nursing, something she has wanted to do for a long time. “She is also going to buy me a sleep-number bed,” her friend joked.

The winning ticket was purchased in Saint Mary’s County at Hills Store, located at 29933 Point Lookout Rd. in Helen.

A Cecil County man is finding Keno to be his lucky game. His ticket started out as a $10,000 win, but with the three times bonus added, he ended up with over $30,000.

The man bought an eight spot Keno ticket for 20 games while he was out with a few family members.

Six of the eight numbers he chose were birth dates that were special to him, including those of his children and his wife. The other two numbers he selected were his wife’s two favorite numbers.

After rushing to get his ticket in just a couple seconds before the game began, he watched in surprise as all of his numbers started to pop up. “I was so close to not getting my ticket in before the game started,” the lucky man told Lottery officials.

“Just give me a three,” he shouted as he saw his last number appear on the screen. With that, he and his entire group began to cheer. The Cecil County man instantly called his wife of 31 years with his unbelievable news.

The winner, who works as a director of building and grounds, plans to pay bills and save the rest of the money for a rainy day.

The winning ticket was purchased at Wesley’s, located at 3700 Telegraph Rd. in Elkton.